QUICK FACTS

Model: PRR/PC/CR class X58 50’ boxcar
Built: October 1965
Builder: Pennsylvania Railroad Sam Rea Shops, Hollidaysburg, PA
Past Railroad Owners: Pennsylvania, Penn Central, Conrail, Norfolk Southern
Current Owner: TOYX, Inc.

Boxcar No. 1775 is numbered for the year that the U.S. Marine Corps was founded. This car was built in October of 1965 by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) at its Sam Rea Shops in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. The 50-foot long, 4,444-cubic-foot capacity boxcar was originally PRR No. 118434, a class X58 insulated boxcar built for general service. This class of car could haul nearly any kind of climate-sensitive merchandise freight throughout the United States, but this specific car was used primarily to move bottled beer. It served in this capacity through the 1968 Penn Central merger and into Conrail in 1976.

In the early 1990s, this boxcar was selected for a unique assignment. Rebuilt as Conrail No. 368191 in August of 1992, this car became Conrail’s “Safety on Rails Theater” (S.O.R.T.) car, touring the Conrail system in support of Operation Lifesaver and railroad grade crossing safety programs. The interior of the car was remodeled as a theater, complete with a movie projector to show railroad safety films to everyone from schoolchildren to first responders. During its life as the S.O.R.T. theater car, this specific boxcar appeared in Port Jervis several times between 1996 and 1998 during the much-publicized steam locomotive trips in the area.

When Conrail was split up between Norfolk Southern and CSX in 1999, this boxcar became the property of Norfolk Southern. It was donated to the Military Transport Association in 2009 and painted in its unique camouflage scheme for service on Operation Toy Train’s Toys for Tots train. It was acquired by Operation Toy Train directly in 2018, and it arrived in Port Jervis on December 12, 2021.

This car will be restored to its Conrail S.O.R.T. colors. It retains its original 1990s theater, which is used to show movies and historic films of Port Jervis railroad history, and the other end of the car is now used for historic exhibits covering the railyard.